Slashdot Mirror
Spyware Masquerading as Spyware Removal Software
Cocooner writes "News.com is reporting that some of the anti-spyware/adware software out there is doing more harm than good by acting as double agents. One example is a software package named SpyBan (google cache since the original site has been removed), which happened to be hosted by download.com, accused of installing Look2Me, which monitors and reports web surfing habits. SpyBan was downloaded over 44000 times before it was pulled. How 'low' can they go?"
*shrugs* I guess this must be a windows problem.
</OELQ>
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
Geeks don't get laid because they are completely selfish and anti-social. I'll lay it out:
1.) They're selfish. This means that whatever benefits them, they want. And they will justify it to no end. Example--MP3 downloads magically become a culture movement against the RIAA, not a direct ripping-off of real humans who rented a studio and recorded the music to make a living. People get used to the convenience of MP3 downloading and invest justifications for it so their guilt goes away. This has led to entire subcultures on the net in which warez is okay, mp3s are okay, and hacking is okay.
2.) They think their mindset is a majority mindset somehow more valid than anyone else's. Most normal people who get used to something have no problems with other people doing it differently. Nerds, however, feel whatever they do, everyone else must do the exact same way, or it is no good. Example--XFree86 cut-and-paste. Witness endless Slashdotters write entire essays explaining why the X11 cut-and-paste scheme is somehow better than the cut-and-paste scheme used by 95+ percent of computer users, and if others use Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V, they are using a "braindead" scheme. Yes, someone actually felt strongly enough about a cut-and-paste scheme to label it that. Insane.
3.) They think being an encyclopedia is appealing. This means they don't know any other way to impress someone, so they will throw facts at them. Most normal people relate emotionally to others. But nerds have often spent a lot of time in non-social environments, and so emotions aren't something that are felt, but thought about. So, when they actually become involved in a social environment, they don't know any other way to impress or converse but to exchange random facts and argue about things other people don't care about. Example--most any thread on Slashdot in which an argument takes place. "So-and-so happens this way." "Actually, it happens this way." "But since version 0.11.4p2, it has done this to do this." "Only on the OS X port."
4.) They take the side that best benefits them--hypocrisy at its worst. Nerds will attempt to maintain some sort of moral stance against Microsoft, yet embrace DDOS attacks against spammers and SCO websites. Witness all the Slashdotters posting links to the SCO website with tongue-in-cheek messages to "keep refreshing." These posts get modded up. But then when SCO mentions the attacks in the press, suddenly nobody on Slashdot supports it, because they're above that, right? Another example--IBM, the bastion of corporate greed and evil in the 80s, is suddenly a-okay with nerds because they've gone with Linux after their OS/2 line died out. Anyone who would bother to read up on IBM's corporatehistory would shudder at this.
5.) Of course, this hypocrisy leads into propoganda. Anything Microsoft does is evil and has a self-serving agenda. Anything a Linux company does is great for the community and can be justified. So, if Microsoft's Windows is selling in China, and the Chinese government that silences dissidents happens to be using Windows, Slashdot will report a headline entitled, "Microsoft Violates Human Rights in China." This, of course, ignores the fact that China has its own Linux distribution, and we won't see a "Open Source Violates Human Rights in China" any time soon. And with all these recent KDE 3.2 articles, nobody's mentioning that KDE removed the Taiwan flag just so they could be adopted by the Chinese government. But, like I said--Microsoft is evil, anything Linux is good!
6.) Condescension. This means that if your opinion is different, you will be insulted and downmodded (a true sign of emotional insecurity). If you are new to spending an entire evening just to set up an operating system, and you don't understand the poorly written, 5-year-old HOW-TOs, going into an IRC channel to ask about it will get you "RTFA" and "haha n00bs." If you dare request that someone shape up their godawful GUI software for Linux, you will get people who will
Minorities. That's rich. The whole concept is flawed as with about five major races and 280 million people there's no real "minor" group anymore.
If you want to tread that road, however, I'm a white man in South Texas. "Minority" enough for you? =D